Maude

I would imagine Ped was right. If it was expecting to see certain notes from certain strings, how would it cope when you start fretting? If you're tuning the B string to C then surely it would just 'think' you're playing at the first fret when you play the open string. It also has to cope with bends and vibrato so must just affect whatever you send to it. But I am only assuming and you know what they say about that.

Another option would be for Andy to put a thin vaneer on the top and stain or paint that black, but the SR is quite curvy so might not be possible. Good luck with whatever you go for.

Yes, mind those fingers, I'd hate to convince someone to have a go at something and they then injure themselves. You know your limits. Warming the paint with a heatgun or hairdryer would soften it ever so slightly to help it not chip or splinter when cutting. If you removed the pickguard, you could lever the fingerboard from that end, then any damage would be less visable, easier to tidy up and wouldnt be felt when playing. If you do go for it maybe start a topic in the build section as there's vastly superior knowledge to mine in there that would give guidance.

Another thing that makes it a little more tricky, same process, but more cumbersome, is I'm guessing it's neck through rather than bolt on.

Going away from the decal topic, but are the filled pickup routes going to be covered by a scratchplate or anything? The reason I ask is that if you have two edges of wood butted up against each other, no matter how tightly fitted or well glued, once filled over and painted you will more than likely still see the line between the woods, made even more visable by being black. Worst case scenario is that there will be ever so slight movement, expanding/shrinking between the two woods causing your filler to crack. Tapering the edges can help, but it's always a risk. Apologies if you already know this or have a different plan. 🙂

@stewblack I don't know how hands on you are or how confident you are trying things like I'm about to suggest, but if it's going to end up a wall hanging then there's nothing to lose. You could very carefully score through the paint finish between the fretboard binding and the neck using a scalpel or similar very sharp knife. Use a steel straight edge as a guide and use several slow steady passes until you're confident you've cut through the paint. Then heat the fretboard, being careful not to blister the lacquer or binding, and prise the fretboard off. Replace rod, reglue fretboard and then, once dry, very carefully run superglue (or lacquer if you have some, even clear nail varnish) in the paint crack between the binding and neck, the glue will wick into the gap and can be wet flatted and polished up once dry. With patience and care this could be a virtually invisible repair. Good luck with whatever you try. 🙂

The way I look at my variax is that it isn't 24 famous basses in one, rather it's a nice bass with a huge amount of tonal options, all easily accessible with a simple rotary switch. I do have a spare one that I was going to defret as I think that could really open up some the sounds, especially the doublebass and synth. I'm going to first see if my fretless neck will fit just to see how it'll work.

I just sent him a link to a picture I found on the internet of what I needed and told him the size and colours and he did the rest. Good luck with the project, another Andy build thread to follow hopefully. 🙂

I used this person recently. Really good looking decals, extremely thin so covered really well with lacquer, and you get two for that price in case you mess up the first attempt. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324037188013

The above bit about piccolo bass makes no sense. 😁 A guitar with an octave down and a bass with an octave up would be the comparison. The point I was trying to make is that bass and string construction must play a big part as although a picollo bass is tuned the same pitch as a guitar, it doesn't sound like a guitar.

If it were possible, I think it would sound very synthetic to be honest. A guitar with an octave pedal doesn't sound like a bass, in the same way a piccolo bass doesn't sound like a guitar. Although the signal is digitally processed in a Variax, a massive amount of the core sound is retained. Changing strings makes a big difference and doesn't just get overridden by the digital processor.

It's definitely slightly off in the picture. If you zoom in and then scroll up and down, the lower edge of the neck pickup sits almost perfectly on the lower edge of your screen, the top edge of the bridge pickup is definitely not sitting level on the edge of the screen when doing the same. Whether that's a quirk of the camera angle, I don't know. I hate to pick fault as it's exceptional but it's better to know if it really is out.

I don't like red basses or white scratchplates, especially if they're pearloid. Also never really liked the look of Stingrays. Can't explain it but there you go. I'm in the middle of building a Red Stingray style bass and I've almost talked myself into buying a white pearloid scratchplate. What is happening? 🙂

I have a pair of the neodymium Entwistles (PBXN) in my Jazz and it is definitely not vintage voiced. With the series switch it is an aggressive beast.

I'm guessing we're discussing it here because it's what a lot of folks on this forum do, not because they're special. I expect most professions and hobbies have a relevant forum discussing their worries about their field. One worry doesn't have to be exclusive, I'm quite capable of worrying about dying, worrying about my career and worrying about how we'll gig again, along with a whole host of other worries all alongside each other. I thought this seemed obvious to most.

Thanks. 🙂 I have access to, ahem 'liberated' paint while I'm at work but being furloughed I can't get any. I'm out in the sticks and the nearest place I could buy paint is expensive, and I'm not paying a lot for what i can get free, especially when the free stuff is decent 2k gun applied lacquer and the expensive stuff is aerosol which could well all go wrong. Then on the Facebook selling pages there was someone selling bulk aerosols which looked like decent ish trade stuff, but looks can be deceiving. You could have a box of six assorted 500ml cans for £20 plus £3.50p&p. So I bought 5 lacquers and a gloss black, as per the original plan before I found some basecoats stashed. Its actually pretty good as aerosols go, with a reasonable spray cap, which is the most important part. This is the link. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/591981074724717/

That's properly tickled me. 😆 Can we start a new campaign to change worldwide recognised bass question to, "Is it any good for Skiffle?"

I think every other seat is optimistic, if 6' needs to be left then that's certainly 2, possibly 3 seats that need to be left. The the entire row behind, more likely two to get the 6' clearance. Imagine sitting in a theatre a not having anyone within a 6' radius of you, and then all the other people the same, that's a massive percentage of empty seats. Then like you say, people need to get up and do whatever it is they seem to have to do ten minutes into the performance and squeeze past everyone else in the row.

I've heard from couple of landlords of small pubs that have said there's no point in opening up with social distancing. They pretty much lose money from Sunday to Thursday but make enough on a Friday and Saturday when it's rammed full of drinkers to make it all worthwhile. If they can't allow many people in at a time then they effectively lose the weekend boost to takings and just have seven days of running at a loss. Another thing with venues and social distancing is that even if it was viable to run with only 30%? of punters in, once those punters are drunk does anyone really think they'll give a poo about distancing? Sadly I just can't see it. Reference the online gig, I enjoy playing bass but I thrive on the energy of an audience at a gig. That energy is a two way thing which won't translate through a screen There's no better feeling than an audience dancing a couple of feet in front of you to your music. I'm making myself miserable now so I'll shut up. 🙂

Ha ha I was listening to First And Last And Always yesterday. Speaking of such, A Slight Case Of Overbombing could be added to this list.

Just Like Heaven is one of my favourite Cure songs and the opening track, The Kiss, has to have the most aggressive wah pedal usage ever. I may as well admit that I might possible be a bit of a Cure fanboi. 😁

OK, I wasn't going to say anything but you threw down the gauntlet, there's no such album. 🙂 That'll either be 'Standing On A Beach' or 'Staring At The Sea', depending on what medium you bought it on. The cassette was the best as it had the singles on side A and all the B sides on, well you get the idea. The other part of your post that could possibly be pointed out to be wrong is that as that compilation was released before they released their most popular album, Disintegration, it could be argued that doesn't contain their biggest hits. Well you did offer the challenge. 🙂

Ooh this looks interesting. I need some inspiration to get an amp/cab project back on track. Looking forward to progress. 🙂

I re-lacquered this on Wednesday and the weather was much more suitable so the lacquer has gone on better, (note to self, don't be so impatient next time). I gave it a quick polish up earlier but the paint is still slightly soft so marks on the side that's face down whilst polishing the other side, (note to self, pay attention to previous notes to self). I'll let it hang over the weekend and give it another buff up when it's fully hard, stop sniggering at the back. The good news is the finish is OK out of a rattle can, if I can learn to be patient. 🙂

From my understanding, yes, but less accurate as it's still a compromise. With frets like that you should able to get the notes as close as possible to perfect.